LEXINGTON, Ky.—Andrew Harrison smiles. He sees the question develop before the words even are formed, the way he might read every possibility in a 3-on-2 fast break and choose the proper pass before the defense can react. He recognizes what is coming.

Some prominent analysts have suggested Andrew and his twin brother Aaron might be difficult teammates. Yep, heard that one before.

There were suggestions elite power forward Julius Randle, whose on-court rivalry with the brothers stretched back to grade school, would not consent to join them. It was prevalent enough that a year ago, shortly after the Harrisons committed to Kentucky but months before he would decide to join them, Randle felt compelled to write a blog for USA Today that debunked that theory.

Randle called the whole commotion “the craziest thing I’ve ever heard.” And later on, he signed with Kentucky. So maybe it is.

“To be honest with you, I think it just comes from our opponents, I guess how we come off as such competitors,” Andrew told Sporting News. “I hate to lose, and when I do lose I don’t always do it the right way.

“I never had a teammate that I didn’t like, or hopefully that didn’t like me.”

Brian Snow of Scout.com acknowledged that he wondered how the two would interact on the court with other elite players, because they’d dominated their high school and summer teams in the manner one might expect from a pair of top-10 prospects who’d grown up so close. But the rest? “I felt it was overblown,” Snow told SN.

Well, the Harrisons certainly are getting a full-immersion experience in interacting with other elite players now. They are surrounded by former high school All-Americans and future pros. They are an essential part of Sporting News’ preseason No. 1 team, with a chance to become the most accomplished twin brothers in the game’s history. The Van Arsdales, Tom and Dick, scored a combined 29,311 points in their NBA careers. That’s a high bar but, from where the Harrisons stand, perhaps not out of reach.

And the only genuine disappointment to date is that Andrew, perhaps the most important member of the Wildcats, has been bothered by a knee bruise that limited his practice time when SN visited and in their Blue-White scrimmage Tuesday night.

They are identical twins, Andrew and Aaron, born Oct. 28 in 1994, Aaron coming along a minute before his younger brother but Andrew arriving with a better knack for dribbling a basketball.

Each now stands 6-6. Aaron is listed at 218 pounds, Andrew at 215, so that’s just a couple extra bottles of Muscle Milk. At John Calipari’s request, Andrew grew his hair a bit longer so the coach could more easily tell them apart.

That Andrew is a natural point guard and Aaron is more inclined to operate as a wing scorer is the one true distinction between them. There being far fewer 6-6 point guards than shooting guards, it was not surprising Andrew would become the slightly more coveted prospect. He was ESPN’s No. 5 prospect in the loaded 2013 recruiting class; Aaron was No. 9.

“Really, it was just Andrew could dribble better than I could. And I could shoot better,” Aaron said. “So we just went off that.”

That was in fourth or fifth grade, as Aaron recalls. And that division of duties has held, until now. When Andrew has been unavailable to fill the point guard position in practice or in that scrimmage, Aaron has gotten the call to replace him.

“I didn’t realize how much work the point guard position is,” Aaron said. “You have to know where everybody is at all times. You have to run the team. You have to be in the best shape. He got a lot of respect from me out of me having to do that.

“It definitely is going to help me. It’s helping me understand the game. I realize how easy I get my shots, because what he does is so hard. Those open jumpers that I get and those layups that I get on fast breaks, they all come from him or the other point guards. I appreciate it more now. I didn’t even know it was that hard.”

In playing point in the team’s public scrimmage—which drew more than 15,000 fans to Rupp Arena—Aaron showed the position is growing on him by passing for six assists while still making 3-of-4 from 3-point range and scoring 19 points.

“Aaron is very talented. And I think he has a little chip on his shoulder when people say he’s not as talented as other players,” Andrew said. “I don’t mean me. I think it’s everybody else but me. He feels like he’s just as talented as every other player they have up there. I think he tries to prove it every time he plays.”

There’s no doubt Aaron is proving he’ll be worthy of plenty of minutes once Andrew is healthy and the season commences, especially since he has proven to be a functional alternative to his brother at point guard. But in terms of starting, Aaron is battling with classmate James Young and sophomore Alex Poythress to determine which two of the three will start at the wing positions.

Young has been the standout. Poythress is the veteran. Aaron might still be the most accurate and dangerous shooter on the roster. They’ll all play plenty, but there is prestige in starting and perhaps a few more minutes and scoring opportunities.

“We just want to win. At the end, if we win we’re all going to get what we want out of it,” Aaron said. “Of course we all have individual stats we want to get, and we all have egos of course. But it’s good to have that sort of competition at practice. We just need to maintain it as a group, just make sure we’re all together.”

The Harrisons will allow they look out for one another on the court, but it’s understandable given the bond they’ve established as twin brothers and the chemistry that developed as they played so often together.

As he practices and prepares for the huge Nov. 12 game against No. 2 Michigan State, Andrew said he still is working to understand how teammates such as Randle and Young prefer to receive the basketball, in which positions they are most dangerous. He’s already compiled and digested that book on Aaron.

Asked a philosophical question—if all four teammates somehow were equally open, would it be Aaron who’d get the ball?—Andrew doesn’t bite.

“I’m going to make the winning play no matter what,” he said. “Me and Aaron obviously have a little more chemistry. I know what he’s going to do and stuff. But at the same time, all my teammates, I get along with, just like my brother.

“Hopefully, I’m hard to play against, but I definitely don’t think I’m hard to play with.”